Mike Ross for Maricopa County Supervisor 2012

Will Fulton Brock hand Mary Rose Wilcox a cool million dollars?

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Laurie Roberts' Columns & Blog

Laurie Roberts is a columnist for The Arizona Republic.

Will Fulton Brock hand Mary Rose Wilcox a cool million dollars?

Maricopa County Supervisors Andy Kunasek and Max Wilson have drawn the line on giving Mary Rose Wilcox nearly $1 million from taxpayers to cover her pain and suffering (and legal bills) as a result of the county wars. Good for them.

Of course, Kunasek and Wilson can easily say no and WIlcox can still score. State law says that such claims can be approved by just one supervisor and the county treasurer, in this case, Hos Hoskins.

Assuming Hoskins agrees -- and that's no given -- all Wilcox needs is Supervisor Fulton Brock to sign over the settlement. Interestingly, Brock is not running for re-election. My prediction: he'll give her the money. What does he care?

This push by Wilcox and Supervisor Don Stapley to score at the expense of taxpayers has always had a vague odor about it. For one thing, it seems wrong for politicians to sue their constituents. And neither one of them was exactly vindicated.

Charges were dismissed against both Wilcox and Stapley due to prosecutorial misconduct. But the Pima County judge who dismissed the charges against Wilcox took great care to note that he never considered the merits of the case. And Gila County Attorney Daisy Flores said she could have proceeded with prosecuting Stapley on seven felony counts. She just choose not to, given the mess created by the tag team of Joe Arpaio and Andrew Thomas and their respective sidekicks.

Stapley and Wilcox should be reimbursed for their legal fees. As for their pain and suffering? Suck it up, people.

That this is even a possibility is yet another reason to reform county government. (I'd love to tell you that the supervisors would consider initiating reform but Chairman Max Wilson wouldn't even return my call to talk about it for my column this morning. Not exactly a hopeful sign.)

If you're counting the many reasons that it's time to reform county government, here, potentially, is another. Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 01:56 PM

Wilson: Mary Rose Wilcox should go to court

Wilson: Mary Rose Wilcox should go to court

Will Maricopa County honchos have the good sense to take a pass on rewarding Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox with a nearly million-dollar windfall, courtesy of taxpayers?

Retiring County Manager David Smith has recommended giving the long suffering supervisor $975,000 to ease her apparently considerable pain and suffering in the wake of the county wars.

The recommendation must be approved by one supervisor and the county treasurer .

Given that Supervisor Don Stapley also has his hand out, there are only three possibilities: Supervisors Max Wilson, Andy Kunasek or Fulton Brock, who is retiring this in the wake of a family scandal and questions about his role in the whole nauseating affair.

Kunasek and Wilson, both of whom are running for re-election, have flatly refused to sign off on the Wilcox Windfall.

“I think it's a court decision," Wilson told The Republic’s Michelle Lee this afternoon, adding that he doesn't believe that anyone at the county should be approving payments for county supervisors. (See Lee's story here.)

Wilson’s right. Handing over this kind of dough to one of their own does nothing but make you wonder whether Andy Thomas might have been onto something, with all of his talk of county corruption. It's one thing to settle with rank-and-file employees. But to hand over county money to the politicians who run the place? That's a little difficult to swallow.

This thing needs to go to court, where a jury can decide whether we owe Wilcox a windfall. Criminal charges against her were dismissed because a Pima County judge found prosecutorial misconduct. The judge never looked at the merits of the case, though.

Whether Brock will see the sense in what Wilson says is a big unknown. Thus far, mum's the word.

For his part, County Treasurer Hos Hoskins told Lee that he’s fielded about 50 calls from people – all opposed to the WW (Wilcox Windfall).

Perhaps Brock needs to hear from people as well. I’ll even save you the effort of looking up his phone number. It’s (602) 506-1776.

And here is Hoskins’ number: (602) 506-7350.

If Wilcox thinks she has a case against her constituents and taxpayers countywide, then she should go to court and prove it. If it ultimately costs us more than $975,000, well then maybe that’s the price of avoiding the taint of corruption.